Top Xbox One Games 2023

Dishonored stands as the best Victorian whale oilpunk spiritual successor to Deus Ex to date, and is an excellent game no matter what your tastes might be.

Charming, irreverent and endlessly fun, Sunset Overdrive is a must-have for any Xbox owner.

In its 14 years, Halo has never felt so good to play. An updated arsenal and great new mobility mechanics give both campaign and multiplayer and modern touch without sacrificing Halo’s classic feel. It fails to introduce its new Spartan characters in a meaningful way, and the story does make some odd logical leaps, but it’s still fast, beautiful, and fun – especially with four-player co-op. Guardians’ multiplayer harkens back to the Halo 2 glory days with tons of balanced maps and fun modes, and the tactical new Warzone mode absolutely steals the show.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection is a well-crafted love letter to Halo fans with tons of engaging single-player content, but its online matchmaking issues mar the experience for competitive players.

While F1 2021 keeps to the same template established by the 2020 edition, it’s still Codemaster’s most accessible and enjoyable F1 racer to date, with the new Braking Point mode adding some Drive to Survive-esque thrills

Mortal Shell isn't as rich and complex as post-Souls games like Bloodborne or Sekiro, but it does make you work for victories and learn from your mistakes. It's a beautifully dark adventure, and thanks to its clever body-swapping mechanic it delivers much of the playstyle diversity and exploration of the best in this genre, but in a tidy and comparatively short package with a couple of attractive surprises of its own.

Dirt Rally 2.0 feels great, looks good, and sounds fabulous. It doesn’t take long until you’re redoing the same stages over and over and career mode is still a little plain, but Dirt Rally 2.0 is a confident rally racer for serious revheads. Stern, focussed, and harder than a woodpecker’s lips, it’s as tricky to tame as its predecessor but doing so is as satisfying as ever.

Metro Exodus is a much-needed gritty and dynamic take on the post-apocalyptic genre, but is let down by bugs and glitches.

It’s perhaps symbolic that Codemasters has included Colin McRae’s old co-driver in Dirt 4 for the first time in one of its rally games since Colin McRae Rally 2005, because Dirt 4 very much feels like a return to the good old days of the series. Hearing Grist’s pace notes again – a voice drilled into my brain in the late ’90s and early 2000s via my ravenous consumption of all games beginning with the word ‘Colin’ – has taken me back nearly 20 years. Back then Codemasters’ rally games were the yardstick against which all other racers with off-road aspirations were measured (at least up until the likes of Richard Burns Rally and WRC: Rally Evolved). Well, those days are back. Accessible yet tough and grimy yet gorgeous, Dirt 4 sets a new standard in rally racing – and its well-considered career mode and endless stages inject it with tremendous stamina. Absolutely stonking brilliant.